


Between the Ages

by solidsnakessolidcakes



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Elis and Mantises of all ages, I dont really know what this is it just kinda happened, I used google translate for the russian so like sorry if theres a lot of mistakes lol, M/M, um but fuck canon am i right
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-09 00:51:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19878886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solidsnakessolidcakes/pseuds/solidsnakessolidcakes
Summary: When Eli awoke on a couch he was, at first, hopeful. He thought that maybe his handlers had finally given up, given him away to a real family. There were more kids here. He had never seen other kids. Oh, and one of them was awake.





	Between the Ages

When Eli awoke on a couch he was, at first, hopeful. He thought that maybe his handlers had finally given up, given him away to a real family. There were more kids here. He had never seen other kids. Oh, and one of them was awake.

"What the _bloody hell_ " His voice was similar to the others that he had heard, although the accent was not quite as heavy. The man was tall, although he didn't look quite full grown. His skin was deeply tan, a nice contrast to the pale scars, blond hair, and blue eyes. He was shirtless, wearing just baggy cargo shorts and heavy boots. One of the two redheads was resting on him. He was looking at him, his expression a mix between confused and judging. He stared right back, feeling almost threatened. He kept his expression straight though, just as he was taught.

He finally tore his eyes away when another person entered the room. He looked exactly like the first blond, but he looked older, and his skin was a tad paler and he had more scars. Instead of cargo shorts he was wearing pajama pants that looked too slim around his legs and waist, but a bit too long. It had a bug pattern all over it.

"... How did you get in here? And more importantly, who are you?" His voice still had the accent, but it was even more faded. He was squinting pretty hard, as if he needed glasses.

The first blond rose to his feet, clearing his throat dramatically.

"My name is Eli, this is my partner Mantis. I do not know how either of us got here, we live in Africa." The redhead that was resting on him rose up.

"Yeah, _my_ name is Eli, _my_ husband is named Mantis, and you two look like us when we were fifteen. And that kid behind you looks like what I think I looked like when I was ten."

"Wh- wait, you're married to a man? That's legal?" The first Eli sounded excited and confused. The bigger Eli snorted, nodding.

"Say, kid, what's your name?" The adult asked, flipping his long hair onto his other shoulder as his eyes fell upon him. In response he just shrugged. The woman that claimed she was his mother called him Eli, but no one else ever addressed him as that.

"Great. i am just going to assume that somehow you," He pointed to him, "Are me as a child, probably before I ran off to Africa, and you," He pointed at the teenager, "are me as a teenager."

* * *

The older Eli woke up everyone in the house, including a nervous-looking redhead that didn't seem to understand English. He then gathered them all in the kitchen.

This included everyone on the couch and four other teenagers. There was one blonde with short hair, an Asian that didn't seem to want to be there, an African that seemed equally as unhappy as the Asian, and a scary looking pale woman that seemed to be peering into everyone's soul. They all referred to the oldest Eli as "daddy" so he assumed they were his children. None of them looked similar, to each other or to him, so he either had many lovers or adopted them. All the teenagers looked close in age, and before he mentioned a husband, so most likely the ladder.

The last person to appear was an uptight looking bald man dressed in a sweater and tight leather pants. He was wearing a gas mask. Him and the oldest Eli looked close, so he assumed he was the husband he mentioned before.

"Dad A, what's going on?" The blonde girl asked. Maybe they weren't saying "daddy" and instead saying "dad E." That made more since, at their age.

Adult Eli's husband sighed, sounding quite tired. Chances are he usually slept in later than this. "Okay, teenage and child me and your father are here for some reason. This will get confusing, so let's start with introductions. My name is Mantis. These are my daughters Jade, Rachael, Anna, and Marcie." He gestured toward the blonde, the Asian, the African and the pale girl.

"I'm Eli, but since there's multiple Elis, I'll be going by Liquid," The oldest Eli said, placing a dramatic hand on his stomach. He distantly wondered if it was like his supposed code name that he had seen in the files at the facility- Liquid Snake. It seemed likely.

"Now you, teenage me, do you mind going by Tretij? Good, because you don't have a choice. And you are going to be called Adrian." Mantis pointed toward the youngest Redhead. He looked up, seemingly confused.

Tretij leaned down to speak to Adrian, "Тебя будут звать Адриан, моего друга, прямо здесь, зовут Илай, его зовут Ликвид, и это богомол." He was speaking in a language he didn't know. He assumed it was Russian, based off what he had heard of the language. Maybe Adrian only spoke Russian? That would explain his confusion when people spoke English. Maybe Tretij only spoke Russian too, that's why he talked so little. But he understood English, so maybe he just likes speaking in Russian better.

"And you- what's your name?" He sat there dumbly for a few seconds before he realized Mantis was addressing him. He sat there for another couple seconds debating what to say. In the end he just shrugged. Liquid Snake was already taken, and so was his supposed birth name.

"What do people call you?"

"... Boy."

He saw Liquid shoot Mantis an apologetic look. He wasn't sure why, that's what he was referred to as, if anything.

"Well what should we call you then?"

"I don't know." At this point he became bored of this conversation and let his eyes wander around the room, taking thorough note of everyone's appearance. He was more of less tuning Mantis out.

He started on Anna, the African girl that Mantis and Liquid supposedly adopted.

She had a strong jawline in a square shape, her eyes looking permanently glossed over. Her hair was long and dark, the bright highlight of the overhead light making it look somewhat greasy. Although, he assumed he wasn't one to talk. He hadn't seen his reflection in years, but the facilities rarely had showers, much less hair soap. Even if they did he had no idea how to use it.

Her eyes were dark, almost like voids. Her nose was wide, although smaller than the pictures of Africans he was shown. He wondered if that was rude of him to think.

He moved onto Marcie as everyone finally realized he wasn't going to respond anymore. They moved onto bedding arrangements.

Marcie had dark hair, similar to her sister, but this time it was contrasted with her pale skin. Her eyes were pale too, a somewhat silver color. They had a constant far away look, and any time she looked at a person she seemed to be looking right into their soul. Her eyebrows were thin and high-arched, which didn't compliment her already scary look. In short she looked like the kind of goth that claimed they weren't goth but also hung out a graveyards.

He then moved on to Rachael. She had somewhat dark skin, similar to that of the stereotypical Asian. Her hair was also dark, just like her sisters, although it had a hint of brown in it. It was tied up into a messy ponytail, with the fly-offs just framing her face. She certainly seemed like the most glamorous of the bunch, if very the oldest.

She had defined eyebrows, which was just perfect to define her scowl. She had plump lips and a button nose. She looked to be a model, although nothing about her expression looked to be anything but. She seemed entirely uninterested in the conversation.

The last of the sisters was Jade. She had pale hair, unlike all her sisters. It was odd.

In fact, compared to her sisters, all of her was pale. Her skin, her eyes, her hair. Although her skin nor her eyes were as pale as Marcie's, they were still very pale, and combined with her blonde hair it made her whole palette look lighter.

Amusement danced in her eyes, and she had a small, cheeky smile on her lips at all times. She was occasionally letting out small, sad giggles.

He finally landed on Tretij. He had red hair- bright red, that went down to his shoulder blades. It looked pretty unkempt, although like might just be the frizz from the curls having rested on the couch, or rather, Eli's stomach, all night. He was wearing a gas mask over his face, which blocked off most of his features. Although, his hands had a few freckles and burn scars.

He was wearing all black, which consisted of what appeared to be a hand-knitted black sweater and black leggings. The knitting on his sweater was messy and appeared to be made by someone with little experience.

Everyone was starting to disband at this point, so he got up and walked over to Tretij, who was explaining everything to Adrian in Russian.

"У них есть два спальных мешка, которыми вы и этот ребенок будете делиться, а Эли и я будем брать надувной матрас." Adrian nodded happily, playing with a loose string on Tretij's sweater. "Do you need me to tell you too, дитя?" He spoke in a soft, gentle tone. He was kneeling to be closer to their heights.

He assumed he was talking to him, and nodded.

"Great. They have two sleeping bags and an air mattress. Eli and I are taking the air mattress, and you and Adrian are taking the two sleeping bags." There was a hint of pride in his voice as he spoke of Eli. Did they often sleep together?

He noted Liquid helping two of his daughters get the air mattress down before sitting back on the couch. He decided a quick nap might be best, but he couldn't manage to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You are going to be called Adrian, my- friend, right there, is called Eli, he's called Liquid, and that's Mantis."  
> "They have two sleeping bags that you and that kid will be sharing, and Eli and I will be taking the air mattress."  
> kid?"  
> \---  
> Jade, Rachael, Marcie and Anna are supposed to be BB corps, I'm not sure that was totally clear lol


End file.
